Free Medical Clinic Experience

In my experience at the Free Medical Clinic, I learned a lot about barriers that can form between American medical personnel and their Hispanic patients due to cultural differences. I learned how we can significantly eliminate these barriers through experience and gaining more knowledge about their culture. Relating to this, the patient finds a way to adapt and cope with these attempts. Their coping and our efforts to make the patient feel more comfortable all play essential roles in the efficiency and thoroughness of a Hispanic patient’s doctor visit.
The first patient that we interacted with was a woman and her young son. When we first came in the room, Professor Parra explained that we were there to translate. The woman seemed glad and a little relieved. Since the woman lives in America, I do believe that she understood a little bit of English, but not enough to be able to communicate freely with the medical student or nurse. This was the barrier that she added to their conversation. On the medical student’s end, he could not understand her besides the few words he knew such as “boca.” This was the barrier that he added to …show more content…
By learning more about the patient, though, I can see how it can be just as frustrating for the patient. Because of this, another essential part in bridging the gap between the doctor and patient is the patient’s ability to cope with the situation. I believe this patient handled it very well considering the English-speaking medical student did not establish La confianza at the start of their visit. This means that this woman’s willingness to be open with the doctor despite not being very comfortable with him demonstrated a lot of courage. She could not expect to have the type of service she was used to. However, she understood that the student was doing everything he could to give her great